TURKISH FM BRIEFS PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ON ARMENIA TALKS
2009/09/12 | 17:06
Region Politics
The following article appeared in yesterday’s edition of Hurriyet,
referring to moves made by Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu to
inform the Turkish parliamnet about developments on the Caucasus front,
including the normalization of relations with Armenia.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoðlu met with Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali
Þahin on Friday to inform him about the government’s foreign policy,
including the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia.
Speaking to reporters following an almost hour-long meeting, Davutoðlu
said he and Þahin discussed the Caucasus, the normalization process
with Armenia, the developments on Nagorno-Karabakh and other foreign
policy developments.
"No matter what step we take in foreign policy or what initiative we
launch, the eventual source of legitimacy for all these policies is
our high Parliament," said the foreign minister.
Davutoðlu has also asked to meet with the political parties before
the protocols with Armenia reach Parliament for ratification.
"Before Parliament begins the new legislative year, we would like to
inform [members of Parliament]. I hope this will take place shortly,"
he said. Davutoðlu is expected to meet with Republican People’s Party,
or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal, on Tuesday. The Nationalist Movement
Party, or MHP, however, refused to meet with Davutoðlu.
Asked if his request for an appointment was given a positive response,
the minister said: "If you like, let’s not evaluate them as positive
or negative. In fact, we applied yesterday [Thursday]," Davutoðlu
said. "The valuable leaders of our political parties have their own
schedules. That will all be clarified in a couple of days."
In response to another question about whether he requested that Þahin
speak to Parliament, Davutoðlu said: "No, it is totally up to our
Parliament. We discussed other areas of foreign policy, but I had the
chance to tell Mr. Speaker in detail about the work we have done so
far concerning the developments in the Caucasus and the normalization
process with Armenia, which are a source of curiosity."
Asked if the six-week protocol process had started with Armenia,
he said the process began with the joint statement released by the
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministries on Aug. 31.
"By meeting with Mr. Parliament Speaker, I have started this
[process]. I hope it will be discussed in public," Davutoðlu said. "As
the protocol texts are open to the public, we are providing all our
political parties, institutions and nongovernmental organizations with
information, but this is a limited period, as you can imagine. We’ll
do our best."
The minister said he held a comprehensive meeting with the Azerbaijani
foreign minister regarding the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict. "This is,
of course, a development that upsets us. We’re trying to maintain
permanent peace in the region," he said. "Therefore, that is an
upsetting development. We hope it will not recur but along the border
such conflicts have occurred before, so it is not specific to today."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
